Fractured Mirror
by William 'Thundergod' Nichols
Summary: Seven years after the Odyssey the time has come for the champion to be reborn...
1. Default Chapter

"Tenchi Muyo!" and all characters herein are the property of AIC and Pioneer Animation, save those created by the Author. This is a fanfiction, and is done for fun, not profit. This story takes place seven years after my story 'Odyssey'. I f you have not read that story yet, it can be found at the following links: www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=508416 and www.tmffa.com/fanfic.html?id=655  
  
Fractured Mirror  
  
-by-  
  
William Nichols  
  
Chapter One: The Festival of Lights  
  
K'snis watched closely as Tenchi huffed for breath as he steadied the blade of the Lighthawk sword at him. The brawny tyran was huffing as hard as he was, but Tenchi was certain that his shoulder was worse off than any wound he had inflicted on K'snis. It was taking everything he had to keep his blade up and the wing on his forearm active as a shield. Several times already he had let his blade dip and K'snis had rewarded him with a series of stinging cuts and throbbing contusions. Neither of them could last very much longer. Riding on the tyran's shoulders was his sense of overblown martial pride. Riding on Tenchi's was the life of his love, and subsequently the entire universe.   
  
He had to win.  
  
"You cannot win," K'snis spat, angling his pulsing red saber at the piece of juraian excrement that had defiled the sacred temple of T'K'Mai. A quick glance downwards told him the blades power cell was near the critical point, at which his sword would return to ordinary steel and he would be at this half-breeds mercy. K'snis grinned wildly. 'The half-breed shall not live that long…'  
  
K'snis watched Tenchi tighten his grip on his sword hilt. The counterbalance of the pommel only seemed to pull the blade down, but Tenchi knew that this would be the final blow. Only one of them would emerge from the next exchange, and he hoped and prayed it would be him. Bolstering his confidence was a quiet whisper in the back of his head, telling him he was the champion Marnot spoke of. Moreover the whisper told him he was Ryoko's champion.   
  
The next flurry of attacks transpired in an instant. Flashes of blue and red blades streaked the room like lightening bolts. Tenchi rose in a blinding blaze of blue light, as K'snis streaked down in a bolt of scarlet. Thunder clapped as the two mighty warriors exchanged blows for the final time.  
  
Blinding, white pain coursed through K'snis' body as he landed in a crumpled heap, clutching his ruined shoulder. In the corner of his eye he saw the hilt of his power blade clatter across the floor, its dying blade leaving faint scorch marks. Twisting his body around, K'snis saw Tenchi standing resolutely, defiantly above him.  
  
From deep within him, K'snis felt a surge of rage and pure, unbridled, unadulterated hate well up into his chest. He had been bested by a damnable miscreant from an illegitimate empire, and a half-breed no less. His jaw quivered as the bastard juraian looked down on him with a look of contemptible pity, as if he felt sorry for his victory. K'snis watched the juraian scum turn his back on him, and walk into the darkness that was encroaching on him. As the darkness closed in on him, he screamed, releasing all of his rage…  
  
"K'snis! K'snis!" Chimercia panicked as her lover shot up like a bolt from under the heavy blankets of their bed. She knew the source of his blood curdling shriek could be only one thing. "It was only a dream," she tried to comfort as the steel blue eyed tyran finally stopped screaming.   
  
"I am sorry my beloved," K'snis atoned, trying to quell his ragged breathing. A thin layer of clammy sweat covered his body, matting his tightly cropped blonde hair to his scalp. He hated that feeling, especially after that dream. It made his artificial limb seem even more inorganic, its cold steel biting even harder into his flesh.  
  
"It's over," Chimercia soothed, her slender hands smoothing over K'snis' powerfully built chest.  
  
"It will never be over," he hissed, a little more harshly than he intended to. "I am tormented day and night by what he did to me."  
  
"You defeated him though," Chimercia said.   
  
K'snis sighed and swung his legs out from under the covers and planted his feet on the dais that the large, ornate bed stood upon. "This haunts me," added, tapping the cold steel sinews of his artificial limb.   
  
"And do you think what the jurai did to me," Chimercia said coolly, "does not haunt me as well?"   
  
"I know it does," K'snis offered, touching his living hand to her face.   
  
"I know nothing of my life before you saved me," Chimercia said, a cold shiver racing up her back at the thought of what horrors the jurai might have inflicted upon her. "The jurai raped my mind and wounded my soul," she continued, trying to choke back a sob. "I hate them as much as you do…"  
  
"And I will see that we are both avenged," K'snis spoke, drawing Chimercia into an embrace, the servos in his artificial limb just barely humming. Chimercia returned his hug, tracing a hand down the cold steel of K'snis' inorganic arm. "I promise you that." Chimercia held the bed sheet to her chest as K'snis stood from the bed and drew a thick red robe around him. "Forgive me my love," he said softly, kissing the top of her hand. "I need to think alone."  
  
"I understand," Chimercia said softly, seeing her flame red hair reflecting in K'snis' cyber-arm. "Just be well, my love."  
  
"I shall," K'snis said, glancing back towards the bed. Chimercia nodded slightly and kept the bed sheet clutched to her bare breast as he strode out of the room. The air was cool and crisp in the imperial palace on tyran prime, the planet known as K'am'ui in the ancient tongue spoken by the priests of T'K'Mai. The finely chiseled marble radiated a pale blue hue from the illumination orbs hanging from the vaulted ceilings. The perpetual night of K'am'ui never truly allowed the rich cerulean veins of color in the colorless marble to show forth. Instead they looked like dark streaks in the ashen tinted stonework.   
  
The stinging cold of the inlaid polished granite floors let K'snis know that he was alive. Two uniformed guards snapped to attention as he left the royal bedchambers. They started to follow him, but a curt wave of the hand stopped them. With an unseen nod they returned to their posts. The last pair of chamber guards who did not heed his order was never seen alive again.  
  
K'snis inhaled deeply, remembering the portion of the events of seven years past that his dream did not show him in such vivid detail. He was defeated. That wretched half-breed had defeated the greatest swordsman in the Tyran Empire. And worse yet, he refused to let him die an honorable death. K'snis had begged him to take his life, at least letting him die honorably, instead of bleeding to death in some T'K'Mai cursed dimension. He screamed for the damnable whelp to return and finish him, long after the juraian's footfalls ceased to echo. Finally, K'snis recalled, his voice faded into a screeching whimper of its former self. He was slowly being engulfed in the darkness of eternal limbo and damnation. He knew he had to have sat there, in the deafening silence for hours, before he finally decided to act.  
  
K'snis rose to his feet, before his unbalanced state returned him to the floor. Gritting his teeth to block out the searing pain in his shoulder, he pulled himself across the floor to where his former appendage lay in a coagulated pool of his own purple ichors. The hilt of his power blade had scattered a few centimeters from his still curled fingers. The energy cell was blinking critical, but K'snis knew there was enough of a charge for one final blade. And one final blow.  
  
All of his pain and anger welled up inside of K'snis as he thumbed the activation rune and clumsily turned the glowing red blade towards his chest. In a few seconds his dishonor would never be known.  
  
'That is when he appeared to me,' K'snis remembered as he leaned against an ornate balcony and viewed the artificial lights of the capitals skyline. 'He changed everything…'  
  
"Are you all right this evening, Milord?" a dulcet voice asked from behind, rousing K'snis from his thoughts.  
  
"I am fine," K'snis replied, turning to see the form of Lorii, one of his chamberlains standing in the shadows. The glow of the illumination orbs cast a soft glow on her pale features and emerald hair, which was cut just short of her shoulders. The blue and gold epaulettes on the sleeves of her gunmetal gray uniform denoted her rank as sergeant-colonel of the palace guards. "I just could not sleep."  
  
"Concerned about tomorrow, Milord?" Lorii asked, stepping out onto the balcony next to K'snis. "It will be ten generations before this day comes again."  
  
"This I know," K'snis breathed. 'The Festival of Lights,' he thought. 'My vengeance shall begin…'   
  
The both of them stood on the balcony overlooking the manmade lights of Vysq'noc. The city sprawled over a quarter of the northern most continent of K'am'ui, like silvery tendrils when viewed from orbit. The rich, electric hues of red, blue, green, and yellow danced across the horizon. K'am'ui was nearly continually eclipsed by its sister planet, Hiratta, leaving it in virtually perpetual darkness save for one day every thousand years. Other than that, the planet saw a brief season of twilight each summer. But on that one day each millennia, the twin planets orbits aligned as to allow K'am'ui a normal cycle of daylight. That day had come to be revered over the millennia by the denizens of the planet. The entire populace of nearly nineteen billion souls will bend their knee to the providence of T'K'Mai at the appointed hour, and the emperor will personally beseech her blessings for the next thousand years.   
  
"You have the honor all of us desire," Lorii said. "You personally get to gaze upon the face of T'K'Mai."  
  
"It is an honor and a burden," K'snis replied matter-of-factly.  
  
"I know the lady Chimercia fears greatly for you," Lorii said, "and I cannot fault her for that."  
  
"All will be well, sergeant-colonel," K'snis replied, placing his living hand atop hers in a gesture of confidence. "A new day will rise on K'am'ui tomorrow, and we as a people shall begin the long steps to reclaim what was taken from us over twenty millennia ago by the jurai."  
  
"Will the artifact be on display?" Lorii enquired.  
  
"Yes," K'snis answered, "and with T'K'Mai's blessings I will be able to use it again."  
  
"Just as you did to defeat the jurai that defiled her temple," Lorii said, the excitement showing in her voice.  
  
"Yes," K'snis said. "Now, allow me my leave, so that I may finish my thoughts."  
  
"As you desire Milord," Lorii said, clutching one fist to her breast and bowing curtly. She dared a glance back, and seemingly K'snis' shadow drew into a murky pool beneath his feet. Thinking it to be a trick of the illumination orbs, she continued on, not giving it a second thought.  
  
K'snis nodded as Lorii turned sharply and returned to the depths of the palace. A wolfish smirk crossed his face as he thought of how pleasant Lorii was to look at with her neatly braided jade hair and striking features. A gaze from her pupilless black eyes was enough to send a shiver down all but the bravest of tyran's spine. The smirk turned into a grin as he thought of an amorous advance that he could use on her, but just as quickly K'snis chastised himself for such thoughts. He knew in his soul he was dedicated to Chimercia. 'Maybe that is why Chimercia and Lorii butt heads so often,' he inwardly chuckled. Either way Lorii had been right earlier. He would have to gaze upon the face of T'K'Mai and receive her blessings before he could launch the offensive.  
  
Having watched his domain until content, K'snis turned back into the palace. He still had much on his mind, too much to allow him to return to the warmth of Chimercia and his bed. Retreating into the structure's inner sanctums, K'snis passed through the hall of heroes of the tyran empire. Each ten meter statue was either carved from the finest basalt, granite, or marble. The very first emperor welcomed him into the hall, his arms spread out as if to encompass the whole of the universe. Every other emperor stood in procession after him, lining the intricately woven red and gold carpet.  
  
At the base of each emperor's statue was an artifact from their reign. Some artifacts were more symbolic than others, such as the broken lengths of chain housed in the stasis case at the feet of the first emperor. No one knew if the chain was really twenty millennia old or not, but legend told it was used to kill the juraian overlord on K'am'ui, thus beginning the tyran empire. Other artifacts ran the gauntlet from various religious icons of T'K'Mai, to weapons forged in the flames of war. It was one such item that lay in the case at the base of K'snis' statue.  
  
His statue was not as polished and pristine as the others, but this was done at his behest. The likeness was chiseled from the largest surviving column from the old temple of T'K'Mai. Reaching out with his nonliving hand, K'snis traced one of the fissures in the stone. Most masons would discard the slab for such an impurity, but like him, this stone had been redeemed. The loss of the temple had been a tragedy for the entirety of the tyran race, but it had elevated him further than he ever could imagine. Images from the video logs of the days following the incident flashed back across his mind. While he had dueled that jurai, several days had passed in the real world. The search for survivors had ended and his father was preparing to mourn the loss of his only son.   
  
'Then I returned,' K'snis thought.   
  
With a clap of thunder a dimensional rift opened in the courtyard of the old temple, sending workers and onlookers alike scurrying for cover. The high magos tried to offer libations to T'K'Mai to quell her wrath as torrents of crackling energies and balefires poured through the open gate. As the magos finished his incantation the rift closed with an earsplitting crack. No one dared to look at the courtyard for several moments, fearing what type of hells pawn had been unleashed into their world.   
  
That is when the first cheer went up. Others quickly followed along with many praises to T'K'Mai. Standing amidst the rubble, stoically ignoring the stump where his right arm had been, was K'snis. Clutched in his left hand was an intricately carved sword hilt, bearing three red gems on its pommel. Even more astonishingly, the blade was ignited, casting a pallid blue tinge on K'snis. No tyran had ever been able to use a force weapon before. No tyran possessed that seemingly mystical bond with the elementals that the jurai did to use such demon weapons and here stood K'snis, wielding a juraian weapon.  
  
"I have defeated the wretched half-breed that defiled the temple of T'K'Mai!" K'snis said in a booming voice of many. Moments later the blade extinguished and he fell to the ground, unconscious.  
  
The entire populace of the empire watched over the next two weeks as he had hovered near death, often wracked with fever and delusions. Some thought his rants of half-breed juraian dogs and knights of T'K'Mai were sure signs of madness; others thought they were divine visions. It was only after his recovery that the latter proved true. With a renewed zeal he led the forces of the empire to push back several juraian border incursions following the dark mass incident which had destroyed a quarter of the tyran empires fleet. These feats coupled with the miracles and intercessions that he seemed to perform only cemented his place in the people's hearts. His cybernetic arm of polished nickel steel became a symbol of the empires might. Children even took to smearing silver paint on their right arms to imitate his. Then five years ago he returned with the lady Chimercia in his arms, retrieved from a juraian detention center. With her at his side, K'snis stood poised to assume the mantle of the empire. The senate unanimously confirmed his election as emperor following his uncle's death.  
  
The stasis field flickered off as K'snis reached for the sword hilt laying on the red velvet stand. The air was rife with static electricity as he held his fingers a few millimeters from the hilt. The three gems began to pulse with a dull light, beckoning him to grasp the blade.  
  
'Remember my promise…' a voice rasped in his ears, urging him onwards. 'You will do what I could not…'  
  
K'snis' hand hovered above the hilt for a lingering second, before he withdrew it from the stasis field. He stared at the blade as the field hissed back to life.   
  
"Lord K'snis," spoke the voice of one of the palace's nameless serfs. "The ceremony begins in three hours. Lady Chimercia requests your presence in the royal chambers."  
  
K'snis nodded in response, and silently walked towards the great doors of the hall. The serf bowed his head, not daring to look his master in the eyes. As his eyes trained on the floor, the serf noticed that his master's shadow seemed to be distending, stretching all the way back to the stasis case at the foot of his statue where it formed a black pool. Frightened, the serf began to leave the hall, but the shadow leapt from the pool and engulfed him. No one heard his muffled prayers for help, and no one noted his absence either. The palace was large, and there were many serfs.  
  
___  
  
Funaho idly looked over her day's agenda on her data pad as he made her way towards the Ministry of Intelligence. Recent reports from the eastern galactic fringe had been unsettling. There was an uneasy truce at stake with the tyran empire, and she wanted to keep it that way. Jurai could ill afford a full-scale war with all the policing actions it was currently undertaking. The thought of one more sector going rogue made her wish that Kagato was still marauding around space and time. At least back then, he was the only thing to be worried about.  
  
Before she knew it, she came to the guarded entrance to the ministry's nerve center. The two guards snapped to attention as Funaho slid her key card across the top of the security panel.   
  
"Please step forward for retinal scan," the tinny computerized voice commanded.  Funaho stepped forward and looked into the green laser light as it scanned across her retina, mapping the intricate network of capillaries. "Please provide vocal access code," the computer further prompted.  
  
"Masaki, Funaho," she spoke calmly, "access authority: Gamma, Tenchi-ken, Alpha, Epsilon, five, one, oh, nine, nine, six, Tau."   
  
"Confirmed," the metallic voice replied.  The guards once again snapped to attention as the doors slid apart with the slightest hydraulic whisper.  
  
"As you were," she said, passing into the room. Funaho blinked a time or two to adjust her eyes to the low lighting of the room. Situation lights cast everything in a dim green glow as rows of operators sat hunched over their screens, trying to glean imperceptible tidbits from the flows of raw data.   
  
"Lady Funaho," the Minister of Intelligence spoke. He bowed slightly to denote her rank, and pressed his lips to her outstretched hand. "Admiral Nagumo and Prime Minister Rogal have briefed you I assume?"  
  
"Yes they have," Funaho said taking the cup of hot tea proffered to her by one of the ministries underlings. "Thank you."  
  
"We've gathered all the information we have on this tyran festival, and have managed to hack a link into their integrated media system."  
  
"So we should be able to watch it then?"  
  
"Yes ma'am," the Minister answered. The new Minister of Intelligence looked too young to hold the post, but Funaho trusted him. He was tall and well built, compared to his frail predecessor. The only similarity between the two was the thin rimmed glasses that sat perched atop his nose.   
  
"The last time this day came," Funaho began, recalling what she had read in her briefing, "they tried to initiate a full scale holy war of sorts against Jurai."  
  
"And with what little we have been able to gather about their fleet movements and build ups," the minister started.  
  
"They just might be ready to do it again." The minister nodded gravely as Funaho finished his sentence.  
  
____  
  
At the appointed hour the sun fully rose on K'am'ui for the first time in a thousand years. Nearly the entire planets populace was massed into every public place imaginable to see the rays of the red star that K'am'ui orbited burn through the haze and bathe the land in its radiance. As the red orb rose higher into the sky, the usually blue-black expanse turned into a rich lavender hue as the photons refracted on the dust particles in the atmosphere. Day had come to K'am'ui, and the festival of lights was about to begin.  
  
K'snis rose from the tub of camphor scented water and two of the household serfs patted him dry with downy white towels, while another anointed his skin with aromatic oils, chanting a litany to T'K'Mai the entire time. The servos in his artificial arm whined slightly as he held his arms out, allowing the serfs to garb him in the traditional robes of the emperor of the tyrans.   
  
Trumpets blared as the processional began towards the restored temple. It had been seven years since the originals' destruction, and the loss of most of the sacred artifacts it held. Some had been replicated or restored, but many tyrans decided that they would fill the void over the years with new iconography.  
  
The rich white marble of the temple gleamed in the first light of the millennium. Atop the columns were delicate friezes, depicting great moments in tyran history. Leading the way was the magos who seven years prior had tried to ward off K'snis' return. Behind him followed an acolyte, rhythmically swinging an incense bearer and chanting a low mantra. Next followed the emperor, K'snis Tectharin, and beside him in regal dress was the Lady Chimercia. Her flame red hair was neatly gathered up beneath a silver veil, which matched the brocade on her blue gown. Two handmaids carried the flowing hem of the gown, keeping off the carpeted walk at all times.   
  
When the processional reached the landing atop the temple steps, K'snis and Chimercia knelt before the magos, who offered a libation of firewine to T'K'Mai, before drizzling a small amount atop of K'snis and Chimercia's heads. Then, the magos spoke to the gathered crowd, asking for blessings in the ancient tongue of K'am'ui.  
  
Once finished, the magos beckoned for K'snis to join him in the inner sanctuary of the temple. Ceremonially festooned guards pushed the hefty doors open, letting the fog of incense roll out in a billowing cloud. K'snis squinted in the dim light offered by the braziers and lamps. He was now in the inner portions of the temple, where few mortals tread. Only once every millennium was the emperor allowed to enter here, to personally intercede on behalf of the empire. At the far end of the sanctuary stood small altar of carved obsidian, filigreed with gold and inlaid with precious stones. Behind the altar hung the reconstructed tapestry of T'K'Mai. The larger than life figure stood over the world, a chalice in one hand, and a bloodied sword in the other.  
  
"May T'K'Mai watch over you," the magos intoned, lifting an ornate goblet of firewine towards the statue. K'snis nodded and received the blessing, looking up towards the icon. Quietly the magos left the antechamber, leaving K'snis alone to commune with T'K'Mai. K'snis remained kneeling, completely unmoving for what seemed like an eternity, his eyes locked onto the face of the icon.  
  
As the coils of smoke from the smoldering incense holders began to wrap around K'snis, T'K'Mai appeared to him. At first the liquid in the icon's chalice began to overflow, forming a great pool of crimson around K'snis. Then with a blurred, measured movement, the image stepped from the icon, trailing afterimages as if it was moving in slow motion. K'snis checked his gut reaction to be terrified of such an apparition and maintained his composure as the specter methodically strode around the altar until it stood towering over him.  
  
"Speak thy intent," the being said in an ethereal tone.  
  
"I am K'snis Tectharin," the emperor began, "Emperor of those who serve T'K'Mai. I am here on the holy day of lights to ask your guidance in my quest to avenge your people against the jurai that defiled your place of honor, and persecute your children at every step."  
  
The avatar looked at K'snis with an air of puzzlement. "Why would my sister's children do such things?" it spoke.  
  
K'snis did not comprehend.   
  
"I have no qualms against Tsunami," K'snis visibly cringed at the name, "nor her children, for they are my children as well."  
  
K'snis' jaw dropped as if he was going to speak, but he quickly clenched it shut. How could the avatar of T'K'Mai call the damnable jurai her children as well? It could not be so! Everything he had every believed in, everything he had ever hated, everything he had ever strove for had just been laid asunder by the avatar. "I refuse to believe this…" he growled beneath his breath.  
  
"Believe what you will," the avatar said forlornly. "I cannot change your heart nor mind…I can only speak the truth…" The avatar stretched out a hand for K'snis' shoulder, but she quickly drew her hand back. A dark nimbus had begun to wreath K'snis, causing her step away.  
  
"I will have my vengeance," K'snis said in a voice not his own. "And the destruction of the jurai is only a stepping stone…in time… even you shall feel my wrath."   
  
The avatar began to return to her tapestry when coils of balefire leapt from the nimbus surrounding K'snis and engulfed the avatar. Before the avatar could manifest any of its eternal power, K'snis slammed it back into the tapestry. "Stay!" he hissed. The avatar struggled for a second, before it returned to the woven fabric, never to leave again.  
  
With a wicked grin, K'snis rose to his feet and turned his back on the tapestry. Solemnly he left the antechamber, and found the magos kneeling in prayer. Before the magos could speak, K'snis laid a hand on his shoulder.   
  
"T'K'Mai has spoken to me," K'snis said. "We shall be victorious in our endeavors."  
  
The magos nodded in compliance and led K'snis back to the landing outside the inner sanctuary. "The emperor has seen T'K'Mai!" he announced to the anxious, silently waiting crowd.  
  
"My people!" K'snis called out to millions strong mass of people. "The time has come for us to take our rightful place as the heirs to the universe! For too long have we lived in a false peace, allowing our rights to be slowly trampled under foot! We are cursed and spit upon in every corner of the universe…now we must take the sword to those who oppress us! We must push the jurai back to their cursed world and destroy them and their false goddess once and for all!"   
  
The crowd was in a state of shock as an acolyte knelt before K'snis and held a red velvet cushion up to him. Every eye was attentive as K'snis held the ivory handle above his head. A spark jumped from the guard at the end of the hilt, before a meter long blue blade ignited. The crowd roared with delight as their emperor brandished the weapon for all to see.  
  
"We shall be victorious!" K'snis bellowed above the din of the crowd.  
  
____  
  
"What the hell?"  
  
It was more of an exclamation of disbelief than a question. Funaho and the Minister of Intelligence had been watching the events on tyran prime through the closed circuit hack job they had managed to secure from the planets media system. They had made careful note of all the rhetoric issued, but the sight of Tenchi-ken was totally unsuspected.  
  
"I thought the Tenchi-ken was on earth?" the minister asked, his hand shaking.  
  
"It is," Funaho said, trying to calm her nerves. "Tenchi has it…he cannot activate any longer…but he has it still…"  
  
"Then what does K'snis have?" the minister managed to croak out. He was starting understand why his predecessor was sent to an early retirement on the count of nerves.  
  
"I do not know…" Funaho said in a small voice. "I do not know…"  
  
___   
  
"Wake up," Tenchi said softly, brushing a lock of cyan hair from Ryoko's forehead. "Ryoko," he added, "it's time to wake up." Ryoko only grunted and rolled over onto her stomach.  
  
"I hate today," Ryoko said, her pillow muffling her voice.   
  
"You still have to get up," Tenchi said kindly, but firmly.  
  
"No I don't," Ryoko protested. "Not today."  
  
Tenchi sighed. It was like this every May 29th; well, at least every May 29th for the past six years. It was not that Ryoko did not like her wedding anniversary; she just did not like the events that had followed later that day. "You have to stop blaming yourself. No one else does."  
  
"No I don't…leave me be," she whimpered.  
  
"No," Tenchi said firmly.   
  
"Why?" Ryoko half sobbed.  
  
"Because I love you, I love our children, and I love our family," he said, gently rolling her over so that he could look Ryoko in the eyes. "Please," he kindly implored of her, "let's start the day. Hitome and Kiyone are already up and with dad."   
  
Ryoko exhaled greatly, considering her husbands request, before she nodded feebly in assent. Slowly, she slid out from under the red and blue comforter and gave a cat like stretch, reaching for the ceiling joists. Their bedroom had been Nobuyuki and Kiyone's, and it made the old house seem like a home again now that they occupied it.   
  
"What would I do without you?" Ryoko asked as she drew Tenchi into a much needed hug.  
  
"Have a much simpler life?" Tenchi chuckled as he patted her back.   
  
"Yeh," Ryoko snorted, "locked in that cave still."  
  
"I didn't mean it that way-" Tenchi began to defend before the mischievous grin on Ryoko's face that he loved so much.  
  
"And you're still too easy to rile up," she playfully teased. Tenchi just smiled as Ryoko strode around the bed and into the walk-in closet before returning fully dressed in a pair of light khaki shorts and a blue and gold striped sleeveless tee. "I hope the little hooligans aren't giving the old man too much trouble." Tenchi shot his wife a disconcerted look. "What? They are my daughters after all."  
  
"Washu says its payback for the grief you gave her," Tenchi laughed, snaking an arm around Ryoko's waist.  
  
"We're both in trouble then," Ryoko laughed as they descended the stairs past his old room. "It's going to be good to see everyone again," she said, with a tinge of regret under her voice.  
  
"Yeah," Tenchi said, giving her side a little squeeze. "But Mihoshi says that Kiyone is still off on assignment."  
  
Ryoko sighed. "Well, almost everyone."  
  
Before Tenchi could reply, they rounded the landing at the base of the steps and two high pitched squeaks announced their welcome. Instantly Kiyone and Hitome Masaki, aged five, disappeared from the couch where they had been watching cartoons with their grandfather and reappeared, floating next to their mother and father. The both of them gently pushed their levitating daughters to the ground, before stooping down and drawing them into a hug. Kiyone, named for Tenchi's mother, had straight lilac hair, just as her name sake (but spiky bangs like her mother) and the largest, catlike green eyes anyone had ever seen. Her twin sister, Hitome was the spitting image of Ryoko, save for the big brown eyes she inherited from her father.  
  
"I hope they didn't keep you too entertained," Tenchi laughed as his father rose from the couch.   
  
"We were o-tay, weren't we?" Hitome asked, looking back Nobuyuki.  
  
"They were just fine," the elder Masaki said lovingly.  
  
"You always say that," Tenchi laughed, kneeling to his daughter's eye level. "Now," he said in his best fatherly voice. "You two are going to behave for your grandpa."  
  
"Yes, sir…" the girls droned together.  
  
"Your father means it," Ryoko said, straightening out Kiyone's collar, "and absolutely no powers of any kind."  
  
"Yes ma'am…" they droned again.  
  
"They'll be fine," Nobuyuki said. "We'll be back before dinner."  
  
"You two behave," Tenchi said, giving each of them a hug and kiss. The girls only smiled and nodded, before Nobuyuki ushered them out towards his car.   
  
"Keep a close eye on them," Ryoko said, making sure Kiyone was situated in the back seat as her father-in-law did the same for Hitome. "And please," she added once the car doors were shut and little ears could not hear her, "make sure they don't even think about using any powers..."  
  
"They won't," Nobuyuki assured her.   
  
"Take care," Tenchi said, stepping up beside Ryoko. Nobuyuki nodded in acknowledgement, but both Tenchi and Ryoko knew he was an over indulgent grandfather, and the twins would have what ever they wanted this day.  
  
"Sasami will be home in the afternoon," Tenchi said as the silver sedan pulled down the drive.  
  
"That's good," Ryoko said halfheartedly. She was too concerned about what type of mischief two superpower-endowed five year olds with a doting grandfather could get into.  
  
Tenchi and Ryoko stood there together on the veranda for a moment after Nobuyuki and the twins had driven off. Most couples have no misgivings about celebrating their wedding anniversary. But as with most things in this house, Tenchi and Ryoko are not your typical married couple. One, the heir to the most powerful empire in the galaxy, the other constructed to be an experiment, but turned into so much more. Following the Odyssey and the fight with Aescheron, what had been forced into the light by the Elder blossomed. The realization that it was their love for one another that drove back the darkness cleared any doubts about whether what they felt was genuine or not.  
  
The unknown quantity in the back of their minds though, was Ayeka. She had endured as much of the Odyssey as Tenchi had, but she had found strength in another, Marnot Raphael, the guardian. Marnot's deep-seated feelings for Ayeka stretched back since before Katsuhito had left jurai. He had buried those feelings, his duties to the Elder seemingly preventing him from ever being allowed to pursue them. Then, against all odds, he was guiding Ayeka, and Katsuhito's grandson through the Odyssey.   
  
Marnot never questioned his feelings towards Ayeka. They were as unwavering as they had been eight centuries before. After the ordeal, all appeared well on the outside. Tenchi and Ryoko's love blossomed as they helped one another cope with having their gifted abilities locked away from them. Marnot was confined to his human form, but he seemed not to mind. All the while, Ayeka tried to maintain her steadily crumbling façade of happiness. That façade finally fell when Tenchi and Ryoko were married.  
  
Tenchi and Ryoko remembered it well.  
  
The night of the ceremony, Marnot and Ayeka were no where to be found. Paper lanterns glowed softly around the shrine, and all the family had gathered in the shrine yard. Tenchi and Ryoko stood dressed in ceremonial kimonos, waiting for Ayeka and Marnot to arrive. Finally, Marnot arrived, with the message that Ayeka was not well, and that she wanted them to continue, and she would be at the reception. Putting their concerns aside, the ceremony went ahead.  
  
The reception was held at the waterfront near the house. Lightning bugs danced above the lake, their glow reflected in the waters rippling surface. It was there, that Marnot returned in tears after going to check on Ayeka. All went silent as the trembling guardian handed Tenchi a crumpled piece of rice paper. Tenchi paled, and then handed the note to Ryoko, who broke down in tears. Finally Washu snatched the note from Ryoko's hand and read it aloud.   
  
Ayeka had left.  
  
The next several months were spent frantically searching for her, on Earth and in space. Finally, the search dwindled, and only Marnot continued it. He had told the others he would not cease until he found Ayeka. He feverishly followed every clue and sighting across the galaxy. Reluctantly, Tenchi and Ryoko began to build their life together again, after having it crash down upon them so. It was not until the birth of the twins a little over a year later did they finally find a small piece of closure, and were able to look towards the future with any degree of hope and happiness.  
  
Not long thereafter, Marnot returned to earth. His search had ended, sadly. His heart had sang when he detected the signal of Ryu-oh near the eastern fringe, but that feeling of elation quickly turned to dread as the burnt out hulk of the once sweeping and graceful ship came into view. The only trace of Ayeka he found on board was her journal, and her blood stained circlet.  
  
In the pages of the journal, she had written her undying love to the guardian, and asked for him to understand the reasons she left had nothing to do with him. She had left to sort her feelings, and to finally bury the emotional grief of not having Tenchi's love as his wife. The last entry was half complete, and as most of the entries, was penned in letter form. It had stated that she was setting course to come home, and she had just written Marnot's name when the pen skewed wildly from the page, smearing ink in a jagged line. Everyone reckoned that was when the ship was attacked. The last entry was dated just six days prior to when Marnot had found the drifting hulk of Ryu-oh.  
  
Marnot had sat there on the soot stained bridge, its once mighty trees reduced to charred spindles, reading the journal. All time stood still for him over the next week until the juraian navy and galaxy police arrived to tow Ryu-oh back. He learned of Ayeka's grief, her guilt, and her anger. He saw that she still loved Tenchi, but she also loved him. It was this dual nature that had driven her into space at the wedding to collect her thoughts. But things quickly became even more maudlin and Ayeka found herself bouncing from outpost to outpost, trying to make some semblance of her feelings. Everything was recorded in the journal. Marnot found himself drawn to the last entry time and time again. Had he been six days sooner, he could have saved her. Now, all he had was her written words…  
  
  
  
Silently, Tenchi and Ryoko began the long walk up the stone stairway leading up the mountain side. Ryoko's heart sank with each and every step. The last several were covered all but mindlessly, as image after image of a happy Ayeka flashed before her eyes, and then faded into nothingness.   
  
"It's ok," Tenchi consoled his wife as they paused at the landing where the Masaki family graves stood. The weathered stone markers stretched back through nearly seven centuries of the Masaki clan. In recent years, two new markers had been added.  
  
One was for Aescheron, after he had fallen to Tenchi's blade.  
  
The other was in memoriam to Ayeka.  
  
Tenchi guided Ryoko down the earthen path to the end of the row, where Marnot and Katsuhito were already kneeling in prayer. He too felt like his innards were riding a rollercoaster, but he tried to stymie them as much as he could, for Ryoko. He had to be strong; he had to make sure she knew he never once blamed her or even thought of blaming her for Ayeka leaving. He loved her, and Ryoko had to know that.  
  
Tenchi placed an offering in front of Ayeka's memorial, and bowed in reverence, asking her spirit to forgive him and Ryoko, and to please be well, wherever she might be. Solemnly he rose back to his feet, and returned to Ryoko, wrapping his arms around her quietly sobbing form.  
  
The shadows had begun to grow long on the ground when Sasami finally made her way up to the terrace, just returned from school in Nagasaki. The spring term had ended, and amid the hustle and bustle of campus life ending for the term, she had returned home. Everyone looked up at the freckled young ladies face to welcome her, but the look on Sasami's face startled them.  
  
"What's wrong?" Tenchi asked, as Ryoko pulled him closer.  
  
"We…" Sasami huffed, "we…have a guest…"  
  
"Who?" Tenchi asked, as Ryoko and the others began to follow in tow. "What's the matter? Who is it?"  
  
"You'd better see for yourself," Sasami said shakily, leading the hurried parade down the mountainside.   
  
Everyone's mind was racing, hoping beyond hope that it just maybe that it could be that Ayeka that had somehow returned from the dead after all these years. 'It could happen,' Ryoko thought. 'They never found a body, so she just might have survived, and now she's come home!'  
  
The look of happy expectations faded rapidly when Tenchi, Ryoko, Katsuhito, and Marnot burst into the foyer adjoining the living room in the main house. Instead of finding Ayeka sitting on the sofa, wondering what all the fuss over her return was for, they found someone else entirely.  
  
"It is good to see that you are well," a cold, baritone voice spoke in a thick brogue, "and that the young goddess managed to find you all so quickly." No one could speak as the visitor rose from the couch, the joints of his obsidian armor creaking somewhat. "I see life has treated you all very well."  
  
Finally Marnot managed to push the lump of indignation out of his throat and speak. "What the hell do you want?"  
  
"I have come to call on your services again," Ignatius Baltus spoke coolly.   
  
"You can tell the Elder to go to hell for all I care," Marnot quickly defended.  
  
Baltus just laughed. "Whatever makes you think I am here to procure your services, old friend?"  
  
"Then what do you want?" Tenchi said defensively, drawing Ryoko close to him. There was no way he was going to jeopardize his family.  
  
"It is simple," Baltus said, cutting his eyes cautiously towards Washu's laboratory. "It is time for the champion to be reborn."  
  
*** 


	2. Rebirth

Chapter Two: Rebirth

               Tenchi pulled Ryoko closer to him as Baltus' words rang through his ears. "W-w-w-w-what do you mean, 'reborn'?"  Tenchi finally stammered out as Baltus gave him an icy stare.

               "Mortals…" Baltus said under his breath, shaking his head.  "You have such a limited view of the world around you."

               "Then what do you want?" Tenchi asked, somewhat annoyed at Baltus' condescending tone.

               Baltus ran a hand through his platinum hair.  "And they wondered why I always let Raphael deal with mortals," the emissary said with a great sigh.

               "Please?" he said shaking his head again, "enlighten them old friend." Marnot chewed his bottom lip for a second before he began to pace the hall.

               "I've lost my touch at this," Marnot said as Tenchi, Ryoko, Katsuhito and Sasami took a seat on the sofa and divan.  "Basically you're being recalled," he elaborated.

               Tenchi thought about each word before he replied.  "I thought my duties to the Elder ended when Aescheron was destroyed?"

               "In one sense they did," Marnot continued, "but truly your service to the Elder only ends in death."  Ryoko paled at those words.  "Not to say that this would be a suicide mission," Marnot added, trying to smooth things over.

               "You're not helping matters," Baltus chuckled with a wry grin. 

               "Then by all means," Marnot quipped, "you do better."

               "Enough of this!" Tenchi said curtly.  "Baltus, why are you here?"

               "I already stated that," said Baltus, the annoyance at this mortal clearly evident in his voice.  "It is time for the champion…" he said slowly, over pronouncing each syllable, "which means you…" he continued, pointing to Tenchi, "to be reborn."  Baltus groaned at the blank looks that were sent his way.  "Did the Elder also lock away your intellect when they locked away your powers?" he added snidely.

               "I may not be a space pirate any more," Ryoko said, "but I probably could still kick your ass if I had to.  Besides, I still owe you for the last time you came into my home."

               "It wasn't 'your' home at that point," Baltus replied.

               "Yeah," Ryoko growled, "but you showed up anyway and threw me through a window then locked my soul in limbo!"

               "Calm down," Tenchi tried to sooth as Ryoko balled her fists.

               "And if you thought I was pissed before," Ryoko growled, "don't you even think about laying a hand on my daughters to black mail us into this!"

               "I would never stoop to such levels," Baltus said, holding a hand up to his chest.  "But since you brought the tykes up?"

               Tenchi physically held Ryoko on the sofa as Baltus chuckled.  "You'll have more than her to deal with…" he warned, stopping mid-sentence as he felt a slight, warm prickle on his forehead.

               "I take it the wee ones are a bit of a handle full?" Baltus said nonchalantly.  He had noticed the look of surprise on Tenchi's face.  "They must be, being able to fly and such…what a burden on the two of you…" he said slyly.

                "Kiyone and Hitome have never been burdens!" Ryoko started, tears welling in her eyes.

               "How did you know that they have powers?" Tenchi deadpanned.

               "Usually such things are passed from parent to child," Baltus said, eyeing a speck of dirt underneath his fingernails.

               "But the Elder took our powers," Tenchi said in a low voice, "…didn't they?"

               "Yes and no," Baltus said, grinning evilly.  "They did not take them in the sense of thievery."

               Before Baltus could say anymore, a loud thumping sound emanated from the foyer broom closet.  The emissary was about to continue, when an even louder thump shook the house.  "Damnation…" he cursed under his breath as a third thump reverberated, shaking a few ribbons of dust loose from the ceiling joists.  Sasami shot Baltus a wry grin as the sounds of creaking and ripping lumber tore across the living room.

               "Don't you help her either," he warned stiffly, to which Sasami continued to grin at him.  Baltus narrowed his eyes at the young goddess and opened his mouth, only to quickly shut it.

               Sasami started to reply, but the loudest thud yet gave its report across the house.  All eyes focused on the cloud of fog and dust that was billowing where the hall broom closet used to be.  As the rolls of vapor dissipated, the silhouette of a hulking, seething form began to take shape.

               Finally enough of the pall had cleared away to reveal a spiked shock of red hair, and the rather smudged remnants of a pair of khaki-green cargo-shorts and a navy top.

               "Bal-l-l-l-l-l-tus!" Washu roared, jets of steam seemingly shooting out of her nostrils.

               "You're in it now," Marnot laughed as Washu strode across the room in several long, purposeful strides.

               "Why I aughtta…" Washu hissed, snatching Baltus up by the collar of his tunic.

               "Mom?" Ryoko asked, timidly, not sure how to react to a Washu that resembled more the demon-space pirate of her past than the loving grandmother of her daughters.

               Washu took a deep breath and let Baltus go, where he settled back onto the rattan chair he dominated like a throne.  "I have every right to kill you, ya know?" she seethed in a tone low enough that only it's intended target could hear it.

               "Maybe so," Baltus replied.  "But that would defeat the purpose of my being here."

               Washu collected herself and primly took a seat next to Sasami.  "And what purpose is that other than being a general pain in our collected asses?"

               "Now, now lady Washu," Baltus said smoothly, "you know why I am here."

               "And my answer is no," she replied.  "As to the others, that's up to them."

               "What's up to us?" Tenchi asked.  Now he really was confused.  Seven years had passed without so much as a peep from the Elder, and now this?

               "An offer of employment," Baltus said casually.  "The Elder need certain, how shall we say, desirables to be protected during the impending unpleasantness."

               Ryoko chewed her bottom lip as Baltus finished.  She did not like the slowness of how he said 'impending unpleasantness.'  It reminded her too much of how Kagato would try to be sly and play down the real danger of her missions.  Tenchi saw the disquieted look on his wife's face and gently squeezed her hand.

               "My only concern is my family," he said solidly, showing no hint of fear in his voice.

               "And they will be endangered," Baltus said.  "That much is certain."

               Ryoko felt like someone had just jabbed ice picks into her temples at those words.  The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and blood ran cold. These days it took a lot to bring her to anger, and the mere thought of her children being harmed, was one of the things that could.  "Not in my life time," she swore.

               "I am just warning you," Baltus said.  "However, I never mentioned the young ones specifically now, did I?"

               Ryoko was growing ever more incensed by Baltus' play on words, but to everyone's surprise it was Sasami who spoke first.

               "It's my family, isn't it?" she said meekly.  Tenchi, Ryoko, and Marnot turned to face Sasami, who was worrying the hem of her blouse.  "I know my family is in danger now."

               "I see Tsunami has kept you informed," Baltus said.

               Sasami nodded.  "She has shown me what will happen," she began.  "And she has shown me that is not a certainty."

               "Indeed it is not," Baltus injected.

               "But I can't ask Tenchi and Ryoko to------" Sasami began for Tenchi spoke out.

               "What do the Elder need us to do?" he said firmly.

               "Simply to stay alive," Baltus began with a chuckle, "and to keep the wee ones alive as well."

               "No one will harm my daughters," Ryoko growled.  No one except Baltus seemed to notice that her grasp on the couch's arm rest had crushed the rattan.

               "I see that you still have some fire left in you after all," the emissary laughed before shimmered from sight in a wash of static electricity.  "You will need it," his disembodied voice added hauntingly.

___

             K'snis walked a pace ahead of his chosen bodyguard as they descended into the bowls of the palace complex.  The further underground they went the more drastic the changes in the halls and stairs became.  The floors directly below the grounds were nearly as opulent as their above ground contemporaries.  The serf's quarters, the scullery, and armory lay directly beneath the palace proper, with the dungeons and less savory areas further down.

             As the party descended, the stone work of the palace became more and more dank, until the entourage reached a set of gunmetal gray doors.  K'snis keyed in a series of five pictograms and the doors slid back with a loud grinding sound.

             Not a word was spoken as the lift descended a full kilometer under the planet's surface.  K'snis flexed the servos in his cyber-hand a few times as the pressure changed in the lift car.  A few seconds later, they reached the sprawling research complex under the palace.

             Everyone snapped to attention when K'snis strode forward from the lift car, before he ordered them back to work with a flick of the hand. The suspended glow orbs cast a pale yellow light down the corridor, and the air recyclers hummed dully, adding the only sounds besides the small group's footfalls.  Finally, they reached a set of guarded doors.   The armored soldiers lowered their pulse rifles and stepped aside, physically opening the doors for their emperor.

             "Commander K'snis," a deep voice spoke from inside the sanctum.  The emperor turned as a tall, broad-shouldered man in a black lab coat stepped out from behind a bank of iridescent chambers.

             "Doctor Vas'nigoc," K'snis spoke coolly.  "Is the next batch ready?"

             "They shall be shortly," Vas'nigoc replied.  "Each successive batch takes the attributes of the previous, plus what ever new genetic material the prior batch has assimilated."

             "The perfect warriors," K'snis sneered.

             "If only you had not," Vas'nigoc began before a malice filled glared from K'snis stopped him short.

             "You are to never question my decision on that matter again!" K'snis barked.  At least three of his bodyguard reached for their weapons, ready to carry out an execution if need be.

             "I was only stating that with such a prime sample," Vas'nigoc retorted, "we could have made such incredible progress!"

             "Enough of this," K'snis growled.  "If you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand."

             The two Tyrans locked glares, before a trilling beep drew their attention.  "They're ready," Vas'nigoc hissed.

             A vile grin crept across K'snis' face.  "I am to be the first sight they see," he said calmly, moving towards the balcony that overlooked the breeding chambers.  Grayish-blue mist rolled from within the tubes as they slid open, revealing the glistening forms of the creatures.  They were tall and sinewy, each toe and finger capped by a curved black talon.  Their skin resembled interlocking scales and was mottled in hues of brown and black. A series of quills erupted from the back of the creature's scalps before jutting backwards.  Their powerful jaws culminated in a short beak-like protuberance.

             "My Kreetoq," he said, almost fondly, as the new brood began to writhe around and lap the amniotic fluid from one another.  A series of low clicks and chirps rose from the chamber as Vas'nigoc stepped up next to K'snis.

             "They need to be fed," he said nonchalantly.

             K'snis nodded, and momentarily a pair of guards brought a young man from within the bowls of the complex.  He was no older than twenty in appearance, and his nude skin bore the marks of repetitive beatings at the hands of his captors.

             "Look closely Jurai," K'snis said, kneeling down, to whisper in the prisoners' ear.  "Just as I was the first thing they saw, they first thing they shall eat will be you," he spoke calmly.  The prisoner could only give a muffled response from behind his gag, but the way he was quivering more than adequately showed his fear.  "Do you know why?" K'snis asked.  "Seeing my face when born insures utter loyalty, and tasting your flesh insures they crave the meat of you Jurai more than anything else."

             The young Juraian began to whimper as the Kreetoq turned their attention to him and began to howl in delight.  "Send Tsunami my regards," K'snis hissed, before pushing the young man into the chamber.

             "That is always grisly," Vas'nigoc said with a look of disgust on his face as the Kreetoq shredded through flesh and bone.

             "Yes," K'snis smiled.  "It is."

             "That was our last noble," Vas'nigoc sighed.  "He was from House Masaki, I do believe."

             "That's not a problem," K'snis laughed.  "Soon, my Kreetoq can gorge themselves with nobles, from all of the Juraian houses."  Vas'nigoc sneered as K'snis turned to face him and his bodyguard.  "Operations begin in five days."

             Chimercia blinked a time or two as her face came into focus in her armoire mirror.  She had momentarily zoned out as she was checking her crisply pressed uniform.  She had just had the most vivid daydream, but all she could remember now was a pastel wash of white and pink.  'Just my nerves,' she concluded as she fastened a braided epaulette onto her shoulder.

             "Is there a problem?' Lorii asked, setting a data slate down on Chimercia's desk.

             "No," she said, running a hand through her fire red hair.  "I just have a slight headache."

             "Just checking," Lorii said aloofly as she turned to leave.

             Chimercia shot Lorii's backside a stern look as the sergeant-colonel left her chambers.  Warily, she walked over to the desk and picked up the data slate.  Thumbing the activation glyph, she scrolled down the message.

             Its contents worried her, although the planned conquest of Jurai had been her foremost concern for the past five years.  Something just felt wrong about the timetable that Lorii had just brought her.

             "Or maybe it's just her?" Chimercia thought snidely.  "I do not like the way she looks at K'snis or me for that matter?"

              Chimercia continued to mull over Lorii and the data slate. The more she did, the more morose she became.  Slowly, the small shadow cast by the overhear lights began to draw back around her feet into a dark pool.  From the pool a slender ghost began to rise up behind her, running its spectral hands over Chimercia's uniform, stopping to cup her breasts. She inhaled sharply as a torrent of cold air passed over her.  A small mouth formed on the specters head and leaned in to kiss the side of Chimercia's neck, just as Lorii passed by the open chambers again.

             "What was that?" she exclaimed as the apparition vanished before her eyes.

             "What on earth are you talking about?" quipped Chimercia, obviously annoyed by the uninvited intrusion to her chambers.

             "There was something in here," Lorii said, her pulse pistol drawn.

             "Nonsense," Chimercia said haughtily.  "No one has come in since you left this for me!" she yelled, wagging the data slate at Lorii.  "And for T'K'Mai's sake put that thing away!" she ordered.

             "My apologies," Lorii atoned, holstering her weapon.  "It will not happen again."

             "See to it that it does not," Chimercia said, leaving Lorii in her chambers.  The sergeant-colonel shivered as Chimercia stomped past her. An ache in her stomach felt like all the warmth had been drawn from the core of her being.

             "I've got to report this," she thought, pulling the chamber doors closed behind her.

__

               Tenchi cursed under his breath as he tried to make sense of everything that Baltus had told them a short while ago.  As soon as he left, Ryoko had gone into a panic, not resting until Nobuyugi answered his cell phone and let her speak to both Hitome and Kiyone.  Assured of their safety, Ryoko had fallen into a state of stupor while Sasami had accompanied Washu into her lab.  After that, Tenchi needed a few minutes to clear his head.

               The afternoon was pleasant enough to be in, but his mind was rife with questions.   Finally, after the ordeal with Aescheron, he had found the peace he had wanted out of life.  The only missing piece to the picture was Ayeka, a fact he still blamed on himself from time to time.  Tenchi was content to live his days on this blue and green orb and watch his family grow around him and Ryoko.  

               "Why now?" he asked, picking up a small pebble and tossing into the forest with all his might.

               "It is part of the grand design," Baltus answered, shimmering into view beside Tenchi.

               "Can't a guy take a walk in peace?" Tenchi quipped as Baltus matched his stride.

               "If there was only such a thing as peace," Ignatius lamented.  "I may be better able to answer your queries now that we are in a more serene setting.  You're family can be quiet boisterous and disconcerting. " he added.

               "Start talking," said flatly.

               "When the Elder devolved their power to you to defeat Aescheron," Baltus began, "they set an unforeseen chain of events into motion.  Aescheron in his evil brilliance had many plans and machinations in place in the unlikely event that his main putsch failed.  That is the reasoning behind my absence and the Elder's silence over the past seven years."

               "So one of these backup plans is in motion?" Tenchi asked.

               "No.  We were successful in fighting those fires, to borrow an earth expression.  However, it seems that Aescheron was a pawn to a greater power."

               Tenchi did not like the sound of that.  The old cliché of from bad to worse always had an unearthly knack of coming all too true when concerning him.  "I thought there Elder were the highest power in the universe?"

               "In the physical universe, yes," Baltus said, gesturing with his index finger, "but there are other plains of existence beyond the physical."

               "You're starting to sound like grandpa," Tenchi chuckled, thinking of the many hours of meditation he had spent on the meaning of existence.

               "This is even beyond his understanding," Baltus chuckled, "but he would come close.  The gist of the matter at hand is someone or something is manipulating this universe to their own ends right now.  And in doing so, they are attempting to pit the three megami against one anther again."

               "If I remember," Tenchi said, "that is what led to Aescheron's fall, correct?" 

               Baltus nodded.  "In a sense.  Tell me young champion, what do you remember from temple of wind on K'am'ui?" 

               Tenchi thought back to the events of the odyssey for a moment before his cheeks turned rosy red.  There were a few events that happened on K'am'ui that were rather embarrassing in retrospect, mainly his 'interlude' with Ayeka and Daphne's rather revealing attire. 

               "Think hard," Baltus prompted, drawing Tenchi's mind away from its current line of thought.  

               Flashes of veiled memory shot across Tenchi's mind.  The clang of blades rang in his ears and a pulse of pain shot through his left shoulder. "I fought someone in the temple," Tenchi began remembering glimpses of the battle in better detail.  He could clearly see a muscled man in a gunship gray uniform towering over him, hatred pouring from his steel-blue eyes. "Kishnish, was his name, I think?"

               "Kiss-niss, actually," Baltus corrected, taking the time to phonetically break down the brawny Tyran's name.  

               "That's right," Tenchi said.  "He nearly did me in," he added unpleasantly.

               "That he did," Baltus agreed, recalling the state of Tenchi's injuries following that test.  "He seems to be the focal point of the current manipulations, and he is using his people's deep-ceded xenophobia and distrust of the Juraian's as a catalyst to bring the galaxy to the cusp of war."

               "So that is why Sasami was upset," Tenchi deduced.

               "Yes, as heir apparent to the throne of light," Baltus said, "and avatar of Tsunami, she is keenly aware of what is transpiring."

               "But she also said nothing was certain," Tenchi interjected.  

               "We are at a crossroads," Baltus summed.  "One path leads to light, the other to darkness.  It is yet to be decided which one we shall all tread, or if we have already begun to tread one over the other."

               "What is my role in this?" Tenchi asked again.

               Baltus shook his head and slowly let out a sigh.  "I honestly do not know the answer to that.  All the Elder can foresee is that you and your family need to live.  Before the light comes again to the universe, you and your obligation as champion will be needed.  I know you can feel it returning.  The witch noticed, as did the young goddess.  I would even venture that your wife felt it as well."  

               Before Tenchi could say anything, Baltus left as quickly as he had come.  "That was insightful," Tenchi muttered.  Tenchi waited around for a moment at the spot where Baltus had left him; half hoping that he would return.  Giving up on the notion, Tenchi returned to his walk, thinking on what Baltus had just revealed.

               Washu leaned back in her chair as the screen to her monitor blinked off.  Sasami sat next to her, and the look on her face was far different from Washu's.  Where Washu was perplexed, Sasami bore a look crossing abject terror and heart rending sadness.  Neither spoke for a while as they digested what they had just learned.

               "What do you think this means?" Sasami finally ventured, desperately needing to hear a voice in the eerie silence of the lab.

               "I honestly do not know," Washu said for one of the few times in her life.  "I was hoping that was going to be better news, but Kiyone has created more questions than I planned on.  I just don't know."

               "What can we do?" Sasami asked in a small voice that reminded Washu more the Sasami she had met so long ago rather than the young adult that sat next to her.

               "We continue on our present course," Washu answered confidently, "and we will have to hope for the best."

               Sasami nodded as a green light began to blink on the computer console in front of them. "What's that?"

               Instinctively Washu ran her fingers across the keypad, bringing a viewing portal online.  "Looks like we have a visitor," she said hopping up from her chair.  Sasami nodded quickly followed Washu out of the lab.

               Tenchi shaded his eyes with his hand as the prow of a Juraian tree ship emerged from behind the mountains and nestled into the lack aside the house.  Waves lapped the shore as the ship displaced the pond.  He knew the design well, and he knew who was traveling in it. _'Funaho,'_ he thought, picking his pace up a little.  He could see Sasami, Washu, and Ryoko coming from the house along with Marnot and his grandfather.  

               "What's going on," he huffed, meeting up with the others by the lake shore.

               "Seems like an unannounced visit," Washu said, eyeing Katsuhito, who shook his head in response.

               "I did not know of this," he added in defense.

               Ryoko snaked her arm around Tenchi's as the hum of the interstellar engines quieted and the water stilled.  For some strange reason she felt very uneasy about this visit.  It was a feeling she had not had in ages.  It knotted the pit of her stomach and made her palms sweat.  She did not like this; something was not right, but she could not tell what it was exactly.

               Tenchi squeezed her hand in a comforting gesture, which went a long ways to comforting Ryoko.  The truth is told however, Tenchi was just as uncomfortable about this visit.  He was sweating profusely and he felt like his core temperature had been raised by several degrees.

               The air was filled with static electricity as the hum of a Juraian transporter pierced the collected silence.  A ring of light dotted the ground and quickly expanded as a solid shape formed from the warm yellow radiance.

               "It's been a while," a dulcet voice said, as the transporter process ended.  Masaki Funaho appeared in front of the assembled crowd of her family and friends, dressed in a simple cream and black robe that did not denote the stature of its wearer. 

               "Auntie Funaho!" Sasami said warmly, just as the air was split by the crack of a hypervelocity projectile leaving the muzzle of a rifle reverberated through the hills.       Everyone watched in horror as the round struck Funaho squarely in the chest, creating a mist of blood and vital fluids as the empress crumpled to the ground.

***


End file.
